Popular paintings by Malevich. Biography of Malevich

Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (1879 - 1935), famous Russian and Soviet artist, worked in such painting styles as cubism and avant-garde, art theorist. He is considered the founder of one of the most powerful phenomena in abstract art, which became known as Suprematism - the expression of the entire structure of the universe through geometric shapes and lines. Malevich's paintings, with their titles, give a complete idea of ​​his understanding of reality, unique technology performance and personal attitude towards fine art, are presented below in accordance with the years of their creation.

The beginning of the way

Kazimir Malevich was born in Kyiv, in the Polish large family. He had four brothers and four sisters. His entire childhood was spent in the village. In 1895 - 1896 he attended classes at the Kyiv Drawing School. The first painting was painted by the artist at the age of 16, and then sold in a store by one of his friends for 5 rubles. He repeatedly tried to enroll in Moscow school painting, sculpture and architecture, but all three attempts ended unsuccessfully. Each time he was forced to return and continue working as a draftsman in the management of the Kursk railway. In 1907, Ludviga Alexandrovna, the artist’s mother, took pictures large apartment in Moscow. Kazimir Malevich gets the opportunity to communicate with like-minded people and create his paintings in the capital.

Mine creative path the artist begins with naturalism. But then he quickly became interested in impressionism, futurism and cubism. Even these very avant-garde painting styles did not give Kazimir Malevich the opportunity to tell the whole world about what overwhelmed him. philosophical reflections and thoughts about further development contemporary art. He soon realizes that it is necessary to create another direction in painting - Suprematism, in which only form and color were important.

A small selection of paintings by the artist

There are artists whose paintings’ subjects are clear to most of their admirers at first sight. And Malevich encourages viewers to think about their creations and sometimes even rethink them. There is a lot of talk and debate about Malevich’s paintings, but it has long been clear to everyone that these are the works of a man who sharply advanced avant-garde and abstract art to the heights of art and created a new direction on their basis.

The painting was created in 1913. At that time, the artist and his family rented a dacha near Nemchinovka, which was much cheaper than renting a Moscow apartment. This work by Kazimir Malevich is very unusual. And first of all, because it was written on an ordinary wooden tablet, which used to be part of a shelf. Even holes and traces of fastenings were preserved on it. But the artist could not afford to buy high-quality canvas at that time; he simply did not have the money.

In the painting, K. Malevich expresses his attitude to the accepted standards characteristic of the art of that time. In music, literature and painting, certain rules had to be strictly followed, and the artist promoted freedom. For Malevich, the most important and important thing in his work was the “law of contrasts,” which he also called “the moment of struggle.” This concept was formed in his cubo-futurist period of creativity. With the help of such contrasting images, he tried to shake the established dogmas of art. He spoke to his students about the alogism and comparison of two forms - a violin and a cow against the backdrop of a cubist building. The artist divided many of his works of that period into “Abstract Realism” and “Cubo-Futuristic Realism.” This indicated that K. Malevich saw his goal in a reality that was beyond the boundaries of objective illusoryness.

The painting was created in 1915 and is part of a series of other Suprematist works by K. Malevich. For many years it has been one of the most discussed paintings in Russian art.

The history of the creation of this painting began with K. Malevich’s work as an artist on sketches of scenery and costumes for the production of M. V. Matyushin’s opera “Victory over the Sun.” Then, for the first time, the image of a black square appeared, which symbolized the victory of human creativity over the passive form of nature; it replaced the solar circle.

K. Malevich, based on the fact that preliminary sketches for “Black Square” were made in 1913, also dated the work. But he did not attach any importance to the actual date of creation of his masterpiece. Presumably, it was completed by the artist on June 21, 1915. He created several Suprematist paintings for an exhibition that opened in St. Petersburg at the end of the same year at the Dobychina Art Bureau:

• “Black Square” was considered the first step of creativity in its purest form.
• The “black circle” is one of the main elements of the plastic system he discovered.
• “Black cross” - transformation of a square into other planes.

At this exhibition they represented three important components of the Suprematist system. These were the three standards. On their basis, new forms were to be born.

The canvas of the painting, whose size is 79.5 cm by 79.5 cm, was tried to be examined several times. The results were made public in 2015. It is discovered that there are two more color images under the top layer. The inscription belonging to the author was also recognized. The phrase “Battle of Negroes in a Dark Cave” redirects to the painting by Alphonse Allais “Battle of Negroes in a Cave in the Dead of Night,” 1882. Historians and art historians believe that these finds will help to imagine the entire process of painting this painting. It will be interesting for many to know that the square was originally specified as a quadrilateral. He did not have strict right angles. This expressed the artist’s desire to create such a mobile and dynamic form.

In his works, Kazimir Malevich showed himself to be a wonderful impressionist. Painting " Summer landscape"was written by him in 1928 - 1929. The influence of realism is noticeable in it. In this work, the artist used strokes of different textures and sizes to express his ideas and compositional solutions. The overall range is close to the real colors of nature, filled with various shades of soft green.

The plot of the film is quite simple. Almost in the center of the picture is a small female figure in a white dress. There is a table not far from the spreading tree. A path leads to a house with white walls, and in the background, in the distance, buildings are visible. And everything is literally buried in summer greenery, permeated with air and sunlight. There are no ideas of Suprematism in the picture. Malevich seems to remember the distant years of childhood spent in the village, and does not overload it with any special philosophical meaning.

The artist worked on this painting in 1928 - 1930. Its color scheme complements and emphasizes the geometric shapes of variegated and provocative shades. The background of the picture is built from planes, color combinations which can be called quite harsh. In the center is a woman, to depict whose figure Malevich used only two colors: black and white. In this way he completely depersonalized the rough and gloomy image. The artist uses this technique in order to show the mass character, sameness and insignificance of all life. The hopelessness and hard, backbreaking work of peasant women is the main idea of ​​this work. But the author invites viewers to reflect on this picture and draw their own conclusions.

For many art connoisseurs, Malevich’s paintings (photos with titles) can explain the process of personal development of the great reformer. He emphasized that the philosophy of Suprematism would allow the artist to bring art to himself.

Name: Kazimir Malewicz

Age: 56 years old

Activity: painter, set designer, art theorist, teacher

Family status: was married

Kazimir Malevich: biography

The paintings of Kazimir Malevich are known to millions, but only a few understand them. Some of the artist’s paintings frighten and irritate with their simplicity, others delight and fascinate with their depth and secret meanings. Malevich created for a select few, but did not leave anyone indifferent.

Having lived a life full of searches, the pioneer of the Russian avant-garde gave his descendants everything that art lives on today, and his paintings, paradoxically, look more modern than those painted by his followers.

Childhood and youth

Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was born in Kyiv on February 23, 1879. The artist’s biography is mysterious and full of “blank spots”. Some call the year of birth of the future cubist 1879, others - 1978. According to the official version, Malevich was born in Kyiv, but there are those who are inclined to believe small homeland the artist is the Belarusian town of Kopyl, and Kazimir’s father is the Belarusian ethnographer and folklorist Severin Malevich.

If we adhere to the official version, then the parents baptized Kazimir Malevich in mid-March 1879 in the Kiev Church of St. Alexander, as evidenced by the archival entry in the parish register.

The father of the future abstractionist, nobleman Severin Malevich, was born in the town of Turbov, Podolsk province of the Russian Empire (today Vinnitsa region of Ukraine). In Turbovo, Severin Antonovich worked as a manager at the sugar factory of industrialist Nikolai Tereshchenko. Kazimir Malevich’s mother, Ludviga Aleksandrovna Galinovskaya, looked after the house and raised numerous offspring: the Malevichs had fourteen children, but before mature age Nine of them survived - five sons and four daughters.

Kazimir is the first-born of the Malevich couple. The family spoke Polish, but knew Ukrainian and Russian. The future artist considered himself a Pole, but during the period of indigenization, he was recorded as Ukrainian in his questionnaires.

Until the age of 12, Kazimir Malevich lived in the village of Moevka, Yampol district, Podolsk province, but because of his father’s work, until he was 17, he lived for a year and a half in the villages of Kharkov, Chernigov and Sumy provinces.

As a child, Kazimir Malevich knew little about drawing. The teenager showed interest in canvas and paint at the age of 15, when his son and his father visited Kiev. At the exhibition, young Malevich saw a portrait of a girl sitting on a bench peeling potatoes that struck him. The painting became the starting point for the desire to take up a brush. Noticing this, my mother bought her son a set of paints for his birthday.

Casimir's passion for drawing turned out to be so great that the 17-year-old son begged his father for permission to enter the Kyiv Art School, founded by the Russian Itinerant artist Nikolai Murashko. But Malevich studied in Kyiv for only a year: in 1896 the family moved to Kursk.

Painting

The first painting in technology oil painting, belonging to the brush of Malevich, appeared in Konotop. 16-year-old Kazimir depicted a moonlit night and a river with a boat moored on the shore on a three-quarter arshin-sized canvas. The work was called " Moonlight night" Malevich's first painting was sold for 5 rubles and lost.

After moving to Kursk, Kazimir Malevich got a job as a draftsman in the management of the Russian state-owned railway. Painting became an outlet from boring and unloved work: the young artist organized a circle in which like-minded people gathered.

Two years after moving to Kursk, Malevich organized the first exhibitions of paintings, which he wrote about in his Autobiography, but there was no documentary evidence left. In 1899, Kazimir got married, but soon family life, routine work in management and the provincialism of the city pushed the artist to change: Kazimir Malevich, leaving his family in Kursk, went to Moscow.

In August 1905, Malevich submitted a petition to the capital’s school of painting, sculpture and architecture, but was refused. Kazimir did not return to his family in Kursk, but for 7 rubles a month he rented a room in the Lefortovo art commune, where three dozen “communards” lived. Six months later, the money ran out, and Kazimir Malevich returned home.

In the summer of 1906 he made his second futile attempt enter the capital's school. But this time the artist moved to Moscow with his family: Malevich, his wife and children lived in an apartment rented by his mother. Ludviga Alexandrovna worked as the manager of a canteen on Tverskaya Street. After the canteen was robbed and ruined, the family moved to the furnished rooms of an apartment building on Bryusov Lane.

The desire to learn prompted Kazimir Malevich to visit the studio of the Russian artist Fyodor Rerberg. For three years, starting in 1907, the artist studied voraciously. In 1910, he participated in the first exhibition of the artist society “Jack of Diamonds” - a major creative association early avant-garde. “Bubnovaletovtsy” are known for breaking with the traditions of realistic painting. In the association, Malevich met Pyotr Konchalovsky, Ivan Klyun, Aristarkh Lentulov and Mikhail Larionov. This is how Kazimir Malevich took the first step towards a new direction - avant-garde.

Cubism and Suprematism

Also in 1910, Malevich’s works participated in the first exhibition of artists of the “Jack of Diamonds”. In the winter of 1911, Kazimir Severinovich’s paintings were exhibited at the exhibition of the Moscow Salon society, and in the spring they participated in the exhibition of the first association of avant-garde artists in St. Petersburg, the Youth Union.

In 1912, Kazimir Malevich went to Munich, where he participated in a joint exhibition of works by the Youth Union and the German expressionists of the Blue Rider society. During this period, the artist joined the group of young colleagues of the Donkey Tail association, which existed until 1913 and discovered Niko Pirosmanishvili to the world.

The work of avant-garde artists intersected with the work of futurist poets Velimir Khlebnikov and Alexei Kruchenykh. Kazimir Malevich illustrated self-written books by Khlebnikov and Kruchenykh, and in 1913 he created scenery and costume designs for the opera “Victory over the Sun,” the text of which was written by Kruchenykh. The opera was performed twice at the Luna Park Theater in St. Petersburg. Malevich's scenery is a three-dimensional embodiment of paintings from that period and consists of geometric shapes. Kazimir Malevich called these paintings “abstruse realism” and “cubo-futuristic realism.”

In his autobiographical memoirs, Malevich said that the idea for “Black Square” was born while working on Kruchenykh’s opera: the artist “saw” his square on the backdrop of the set.

Painting by Kazimir Malevich "Black Square"

In 1915, Malevich participated in the first futurist exhibition “Tram B” in Petrograd and wrote the manifesto “From Cubism to Suprematism. New pictorial realism." In the manifesto, Kazimir Malevich substantiated a new direction of avant-gardeism - suprematism (from the Latin suprem - dominance), of which he was the founder. According to Malevich’s plan, color dominates over the other properties of painting and paint on canvases is “liberated” from an auxiliary role. In Suprematist works the artist balanced creative power man and Nature.

In December 1915 (according to the new style - January 1916) at the futuristic exhibition “0.10” Kazimir Malevich exhibited 39 canvases, united under the title “Suprematism of Painting”. Among the exhibited works there was a place for his famous work “Black Square”. The painting is part of a triptych that includes “Black Circle” and “Black Cross”.

The Amsterdam City Museum houses Malevich's canvas “Suprematism. Self-Portrait in Two Dimensions”, painted in 1915. To convey his own “I,” the master used a minimum of colors and geometric shapes with angles. In his self-portrait, Kazimir Malevich “confessed” to an intractable, “prickly” character and stubbornness. But red and yellow colors“dilute” the gloomy characteristic, and the small ring in the center “speaks” of communication with the outside world.

Malevich's Suprematism influenced Russian artists Olga Rozanova, Ivan Klyun, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Lyubov Popova, Mstislav Yurkevich. They joined the Supremus society organized by Kazimir Malevich.

Painting by Kazimir Malevich "Black Square", "Black Circle" and "Black Cross"

In the summer of 1917, Kazimir Malevich headed the Art Section of the Moscow Council of Soldiers' Deputies and was among the developers of the People's Academy of Arts project. In October, Malevich became chairman of the Jack of Diamonds, and in November the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee appointed the artist commissar for the protection of ancient monuments. He joined the Commission for the Protection of Artistic Values, including Kremlin Values. The new government favored artists who made a revolution in art.

In 1918, Kazimir Malevich moved to Petrograd, where he created the sets and costumes for Vsevolod Meyerhold’s production of “Mystery-Bouffe” based on the play. This time marks the period of Malevich’s “white suprematism”. Researchers call the painting “White on White” (another name is “White Square”) a striking example.

Painting by Kazimir Malevich "White Square"

In 1919, Kazimir Malevich returned to Moscow, where he was appointed head of the “Workshop for the Study of the New Art of Suprematism.”

In the winter of 1919, at the height of the civil war, the avant-garde artist moved to Vitebsk, where he directed the workshop of the People's Art School of the “new revolutionary model”. He headed the school. In the same year, Malevich’s students joined the group “UNOVIS” (Adopters of New Art), which he created, which developed the direction of Suprematism. Lazar Khidekel, who created architectural Suprematism, was elected Chairman of the Tworkom (Creative Committee) of UNOVIS. During these years, Kazimir Malevich focused on developing a new direction and writing philosophical treatises.

Kazimir Malevich and the group "Advocates of New Art"

Later, under conditions of persecution of avant-garde art, the ideas of Suprematism in the Soviet Union “flowed” into design, scenography and architecture.

In 1922, the theorist and philosopher added main work“Suprematism. The world as non-objectivity or eternal peace” and moved with his students from Vitebsk to Petrograd.

We became acquainted with Malevich’s work in Berlin: the avant-garde artist’s paintings were shown at the First Russian Art Exhibition.

Painting by Kazimir Malevich "Suprematist composition"

In 1923, Kazimir Malevich - acting director of the Petrograd Museum artistic culture. Together with UNOVIS students, he is engaged in research work.

From 1924 to 1926 - director of the Leningrad State Institute of Artistic Culture, where he headed the formal theoretical department. But after the devastating article “Monastery on State Supply” published in July, the institute was closed, and the collection of works ready for publication was canceled. Soviet authority turned away from representatives of “reactionary” art.

The persecution intensified in 1927, when Kazimir Malevich visited Germany. At the annual art exhibition in Berlin, the artist was provided with a hall for his works, but, having received an official letter demanding his return, he urgently left for Leningrad.

Malevich, expecting the worst, wrote his will, leaving his paintings, including “White Square,” in the care of the von Riesen family and the architect Hugo Hering. During the war, 15 works disappeared; the remaining paintings are kept in the Amsterdam City Museum. Kazimir Malevich sold the painting “Morning after a Blizzard in the Village” in Berlin. The canvas is on display at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in New York.

The authorities did not forgive Malevich for his recognition in the West and his trip to Germany. In 1930, Kazimir Malevich was arrested on suspicion of international espionage. The reaction of Western media and colleagues forced the authorities to release the artist after 2 months. The fear of punishment did not break Malevich, and he “tells” through brush and canvas the truth that he sees: the peasants in the cubist’s paintings are mannequins without faces against the backdrop of fertile fields. This is how Kazimir Malevich sees the population of villages after dispossession and collectivization.

Painting by Kazimir Malevich "Morning after a blizzard in the village"

The authorities' hostility towards the artist grew: an exhibition of Malevich's works in Kyiv was criticized, and in the fall he was again put in prison, accused of anti-Soviet propaganda. But in December, Kazimir Malevich was released.

After his second prison stint, the cubist created canvases of the second “peasant cycle,” marking the stage of “post-suprematism,” characterized by the flatness of the depicted torsos. A striking example– painting “To the Harvest (Martha and Vanka).”

In 1931, the artist worked on sketches for the painting of the Baltic House (formerly the Red Theater). The following year, Malevich was appointed head of the Experimental Laboratory of the Russian Museum and participated in anniversary exhibition"Artists of the RSFSR for 15 years." For this exhibition, according to biographers, Kazimir Malevich wrote the last, fourth version of “Black Square”, which is kept in the Hermitage.

In the last three years, the avant-garde artist has been painting portraits in the genre of realism. Malevich never finished working on the painting “Social City”.

The peculiarity of Kazimir Malevich’s painting is the technique of applying paints one on top of the other. To obtain a red spot, the artist applied red to the bottom black layer. The viewer saw the color not as pure red, but with a hint of darkness. Experts, knowing Malevich’s secret, easily identified fakes of his paintings.

Personal life

In 1896, Kazimir Malevich and his parents moved to Kursk. Three years later, the 20-year-old draftsman married the daughter of a local baker, Kazimira Zlejc. The wedding turned out to be a double one: Kazimira’s brother, Mieczyslaw, married Kazimira’s sister Maria.

In 1992, the couple had their first child, Anatoly (he died of typhoid at the age of 15). And in 1995, daughter Galina appeared.

The couple's life together began to crack soon after the birth of their children: the wife considered her husband's passion for drawing to be self-indulgence. Malevich left for Moscow, and the couple's relationship worsened.

Personal life did not improve even after the family reunion in Moscow: Kazimira took the children and got a job as a paramedic in a psychiatric hospital in the village of Meshcherskoye in the Moscow region. Soon the woman fell in love and, leaving her son and daughter in the care of a colleague, left with her lover in an unknown direction.

Kazimir Malevich came to Meshcherskoye for children and met Sofia Rafalovich, the woman in whose care the children remained. In 1909, Sophia and Kazimir got married, and in 1920 they had a daughter, Una, named after UNOVIS.

The wife supported her husband’s passion for creativity and took upon herself everyday problems and while her husband improved his drawing technique, she earned money for the family. In 1925, the family idyll ended: Sophia died, leaving her husband with 5-year-old Una in her arms.

Kazimir Malevich married for the third time 2 years later: his wife was Natalya Manchenko, who was 23 years younger.

Death

In 1933, Malevich was given a terrible diagnosis: prostate cancer. The disease progressed: in 1935 the master did not get out of bed. Poverty - Kazimir Malevich did not receive a pension from the Union of Artists - and incurable disease They quickly brought the master to his grave: he died on May 15.

Aware of his impending death, he designed his final resting place - a Suprematist cruciform coffin in which his body lay with his arms outstretched: "spread out on the ground and opening to the sky."

The students of Kazimir Malevich, as he bequeathed, made the coffin according to his sketches. They dressed the deceased genius in a white shirt, black trousers and red shoes. We said goodbye to the master in Leningrad and Moscow. The body was cremated in the Moscow Donskoy Crematorium and on May 21, the ashes were buried under the artist’s favorite oak tree near the village of Nemchinovka (Odintsovo district, Moscow region).

During the war years, the wooden monument with a painted black square was destroyed and the grave was lost.

After the war, enthusiasts established the location of the grave, but in this place there was an arable field. Therefore, they immortalized the burial site on a forest edge two kilometers away: a red square was placed on the front side of the white concrete cube. Today, next to the conventional grave, there is house No. 11; the street in Nemchinovka bears the artist’s name.

The collective farm field on which Kazimir Malevich’s ashes rest was built with the elite residential complex “Romashkovo-2”. In August 2013, the master’s relatives sealed the soil from the burial site into capsules, one was buried in Romashkovo, the others were transferred to the places where Kazimir Malevich lived.

• The genius of Cubism and Suprematism twice failed the exams at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
• In February 1914, the abstract artist took part in a shocking “futuristic demonstration”, during which he walked with his colleagues along the Kuznetsky Most, putting wooden Khokhloma spoons in his buttonholes.
• The painting “Red Cavalry Galloping” is the only abstraction by Malevich recognized official history Soviet art due to its connection with the October Revolution. The work is divided into three parts: earth, sky and people. In the ratio of the width of the earth and the sky, the artist used “ golden ratio"(proportion 0.618). The painting is kept in the St. Petersburg Russian Museum.

Painting by Kazimir Malevich "Red Cavalry Galloping"

• The symbol of the avant-garde association “UNOVIS” created by Kazimir Malevich was a black square sewn onto the sleeve.
• As Kazimir Malevich bequeathed, Suprematist symbolism dominated at his funeral. The image of the square was on the coffin, in the hall of the civil funeral service and on the train carriage carrying the ashes to Moscow.
• There is a version about the creation of a faceted glass by Kazimir Malevich. The idea came to the artist in 1930, during his second stint in prison. Malevich shared his idea with the author of the “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” monument, Vera Mukhina, who involved her friends and launched the production of faceted glasses into mass production.

• The sisters of Sofia Rafalovich’s second wife married artists Evgeny Katsman and Dmitry Toporkov, who were at the origins of socialist realism. Socialist realists considered Malevich's work unworthy.
• After his death, Kazimir Malevich proposed a project for a monument to the leader. According to the abstractionist's idea, a mountain of agricultural tools was crowned with a cube as a symbol of eternity. The project was rejected.
• In 2008, at Sotheby's auction, I bought a painting by Kazimir Malevich “Suprematist Composition” Unknown person for $60 million. The canvas became the most expensive painting painted by an artist from Russia.

Famous paintings by Malevich

• "Black square"
• "White on white"
• "Black Circle"
• "Red Square"
• "Red Cavalry Gallops"
• "Suprematist composition"

Kazimir Malevich is not only “Black Square”. What is the meaning of Malevich's work? Why did he become so popular? It turns out that Malevich worked as a fabric designer and drew sketches of costumes for the play. And much more... We bring to your attention a little-known artist's work.

Malevich, is there any point?

I say “Malevich” - you imagine a black square. But Malevich painted not only a square, but also many different colored figures. And not only figures. But now let's talk about them. When you look at Malevich’s paintings, the question arises: “why did he paint this?” By the way, Malevich answers the question “why” - very long and boring in his philosophical works. To put it simply and briefly, it was a protest. Creativity as protest. An attempt to create something completely new. And there’s no arguing that Malevich managed to surprise and shock. A hundred years have passed since the “Black Square” was created, and it still haunts people, and many consider it their duty to dismiss “I can do it too.” And you can do this, and Malevich could do it. Malevich was the first to think of this - and therefore became popular.

Even the artist draws inspiration from the master’s paintings!

Malevich was able to come up with a new direction. This direction of painting is called “Suprematism”. From the word “supremus”, which means “highest”. At first, Malevich called color “high.” After all, color is the main thing in painting. And then, with the advent of popularity, the artist already called his style “superior”. I could afford it. Now Suprematism is the highest, the best, the only true style of painting.

Suprematist artists draw different geometric shapes, most often square, rectangle, circle and line. The colors are simple - black, white, red and yellow. But there may be exceptions - every artist draws the way he wants.

If you want to understand the trends of contemporary art, we recommend reading a couple of books in the selection.

How did Malevich understand painting?

This can be said in one quote:

“When the habit of seeing in paintings images of corners of nature, Madonnas and shameless Venuses disappears, then only we will see a purely pictorial work.”

How does it differ from the work of the “unclean”? The fact that painting, according to Malevich, should create something that has never existed before. Create, not repeat. This is what distinguishes an artist from a craftsman. The artisan “stamps” the product. And the artist’s work is one such thing. Without repeating what has already been created. If we see a landscape on a canvas, it is a “repetition” of nature. If a person is drawn, this is also a repetition, because people already exist in life.

Malevich coined the term – pointlessness. In the picture we must see the non-objectivity, and only in this case the picture is real. Because if we see an object, it means that this object exists in the world. If it exists, it means that the artist did not draw anything new. Then why did he draw at all? This is the philosophy.

In addition to the famous “Black Square,” Malevich also painted white and red squares. But for some reason they did not become so popular.

So, the meaning of Malevich’s paintings is that the artist comes up with something that has never happened and never will. This is how he excites the audience. The public likes to discuss, condemn, or vice versa – admire. That is why Malevich gained popularity, and debates about his work have not subsided to this day. But Malevich is not only Suprematism.

What else did Malevich paint?

All artists, before moving on to such experiments, first learned academic painting. The one that follows the rules to which we are accustomed. Malevich is no exception. He painted landscapes and portraits and was engaged in fresco painting.

Sketch of a fresco painting entitled “The Triumph of Heaven”:

Scenery. "Spring":

Portrait of a girl:

After this, Malevich moved on to experiments. The artist tried to convey the movement of people using geometric shapes. One of the most popular paintings in this style is called “The Lumberjack”. The effect of movement is achieved through smooth color transitions.

And these are paintings from the artist’s “Peasant Cycle”. “To the harvest. Marfa and Vanka." At first glance, the figures seem motionless, but another moment and we will see movement.

Another “moving” picture is “Harvest”:

And this picture is called “Athletes”. The main thing here is color and symmetry. This is an example of how the Suprematism movement can be used not only in drawing squares and lines. The silhouettes consist of multi-colored figures. But at the same time we see people in the picture. And we even notice the sports uniform.

Fabrics from Malevich

Malevich created sketches of such fabrics. Their ornamentation was invented under the influence of the same Suprematism: on the fabric we see figures and typical colors - black, red, blue, green.

Based on the sketches of Malevich and Alexandra Ekster (artist and designer), the craftswomen of the village of Verbovka made embroidery. They embroidered scarves, tablecloths and pillows, and then sold them at fairs. Such embroideries were especially popular at fairs in Berlin.

Malevich also drew sketches of costumes for the play “Victory over the Sun.” It was an experimental play that defied logic. The only one musical instrument which accompanied the piece was an out-of-tune piano. From left to right: Attentive worker, Athlete, Bully.

What inspired Malevich?

How was Malevich able to come up with a new direction? Amazing fact, but the artist was inspired by folk art. In his autobiography, he called ordinary peasant women his first art teachers. The future artist looked at their work and realized that he wanted to learn the same way. Take a closer look at the embroidery - this is the beginning of Suprematism. Here we see the same geometry that Malevich would later create. These are ornaments without beginning or end - multi-colored figures on a white background. Squares. In Malevich's Suprematist drawings the background is white, because it means infinity. And the colors of the patterns are the same: red, black, blue are used.

1. At the porcelain factory in Petrograd, tableware and tea sets were decorated according to the sketches of Malevich and his students.

2. Malevich was the designer of the bottle of Severny cologne. The artist designed the bottle at the request of perfumer Alexandre Brocard. This is a transparent glass bottle, shaped like an ice mountain. And on top there is a cap in the shape of a bear.

3. The familiar word “weightlessness” was invented by Malevich. The artist understood development (whether creative or technical) as an airplane that had overcome its weight and taken to the sky. That is, weightlessness for Malevich meant an ideal. And weight is a frame, a weight that pulls people down. And over time, the word began to be used in its usual meaning.

4. A true artist has art everywhere. Even in everyday life. This is what Malevich's office looked like. We see a black square, a cross and a circle. In the middle is one of the Suprematist paintings that the artist painted at that time.

5. Malevich had wonderful feeling humor. He signed some paintings like this: “The meaning of the painting is unknown to the author.” Funny, but honest.

6. There is still not a single Malevich museum in the world. But there are monuments.

Opening of the monument to the “Black Square”:

Monument to the work of Malevich:

7. Malevich is not only an artist and designer, but also a writer: he wrote poems, articles and philosophical books.

8. Malevich was abroad only once, but his work was popular throughout Europe. And now most of his paintings are in museums in Europe and America.

9. All his life the artist thought that he was born in 1878. And only after the celebration of his 125th anniversary it became clear that his real date of birth was 1879. Therefore, Malevich’s 125th anniversary was celebrated twice.

10. Recently programmers came up with the “Malevich font”. It's difficult to read, but looks interesting.

7 facts about the “Black Square”

1. The first name of the “Black Square” is “Black quadrangle on a white background.” And it’s true: “Black Square” is not actually a square. After all, neither side is equal to the other. It's almost invisible - but you can apply a ruler and measure.

2. In total, Malevich painted 4 “Black Squares”. They are all different in size and are located in Russian museums. The artist himself called his square “the beginning of everything.” But in fact, the first “Black Square” is a painted over picture. Which one – we don’t know. There was a lot of debate about whether to remove the paint from the square and look or leave everything as is. We decided to leave it. After all, first of all, this was the will of the artist. And under the x-ray you can see what kind of drawing Malevich began to draw. Most likely, this is also something geometric:

3. Malevich himself explained “painting over” differently. He said that he drew the square quickly, that the idea arose as an inspiration. Therefore, there was no time to look for a clean linen - and he took the one that was lying at hand.

4. “Black Square” quickly became a symbol of new art. It was used as a signature. Artists sewed a square piece of black fabric onto clothing. This meant that they were artists of a new generation. In the photo: Malevich’s students under a flag in the form of a black square.

5. What does “Black Square” mean? Everyone can understand the picture in their own way. Some people believe that in a square we see space, because in space there is no up and down. Only weightlessness and infinity. Malevich said that a square is a feeling, and White background- nothing. It turns out that this feeling is empty. And also - the square does not occur in nature, unlike other figures. This means it is not related to real world. This is the whole meaning of Suprematism.

6. At his first exhibition in St. Petersburg, Malevich defiantly hung the “Black Square” in the corner where icons usually hung. The artist challenged the public. And the public was immediately divided into opponents of the new art and its admirers.

7. Main value“Black Square” is that every admirer of Malevich’s work can hang a reproduction of the painting in his home. Moreover, it is of our own production.

Finally, I offer this quote from Malevich, which explains all of his work:

“They always demand that art be understandable, but they never demand that they adapt their heads to understanding.”

The large Polish family of the Malevichs constantly moved from place to place, traveling across half of Ukraine: Kyiv, Moevka, Parkhomovka, Belopole, Konotop. Severin Malevich worked as a manager at a sugar production plant. The eldest of nine children, Casimir, born February 23, 1879, was destined for a similar career. But technology did not at all attract the boy, who was in love with nature, its bright colors and peasant life. He was amazed by the ability of people working on the land to find time for creative activities: singing, dancing, decorating their homes.

Father often took Kazimir on business trips. During one of them, he saw in the window of a Kyiv store a picture of a girl peeling potatoes. Despite the simple plot and standard style of painting, this portrait became one of his first aesthetic shocks. Kazimir was saved from boring and routine work at a factory or railroad by his mother. Ludviga Alexandrovna not only took care of the house and children, but also did needlework, teaching her son a lot along the way, and wrote poetry. At the age of 15, she purchased a set of paints of 54 colors, realizing that this was exactly the gift her son, sensitive to beauty, needed. The various impressions accumulated during childhood and adolescence - moonlight in a dark room, the immensity of the horizon, a roof painted green, the ripples on a huge puddle - and the admiration for color were splashed out on paper. The first painting was “Moonlit Night,” which delighted his friends, and was sold in a Konotop stationery shop for 5 rubles. The first meeting with real artists took place with Malevich in Belopole. The work of icon painters from St. Petersburg so impressed the future painter that he and a friend even planned an escape to Northern capital. Years later, the study of icon painting would help him better understand the naive creativity of the peasants.

Kazimir Severinovich can rightfully be called self-taught, including in painting. In his luggage there are only a few classes of an agricultural school, a year's study at the drawing school of Nikolai Murashko in Kyiv in 1895-96. An attempt to become a student at the MUZHVZ (school of painting, sculpture and architecture) was stopped by his father, who did not send an application for admission to Moscow.

After moving to Kursk in 1896 in connection with the appointment of Malevich Sr. to work at the Railway Administration, considerable changes occurred in the life of the family. Kazimir got a job as a draftsman in the same department, not forgetting about painting. Together with several colleagues, he organized a circle that united amateur artists. In 1901, he married the daughter of the pharmacist Zgleits, his namesake, who bore him two children - Anatoly (1901) and Galina (1905). In 1902, a misfortune happened - Severin Antonovich died suddenly of a heart attack. Despite the economic crisis and the status of the main breadwinner big family, Malevich was haunted by thoughts about Moscow. It was there, in his opinion, that the dream of serious painting could be realized. In 1905 his dream came true. Leaving his family in Kursk with the promise to return for his loved ones when he settles down, Kazimir moves to Moscow. The small funds accumulated during his service in Kursk allowed him to settle in the Kurdyumov art commune. Several unsuccessful attempts to enter the Moscow School of Art and Painting and a great desire to learn drawing led him in 1906 to the private school-studio of the artist Fyodor Rerberg, one of the founders of the Association of Artists. Malevich also took part in exhibitions of this community since 1907. His acquaintance with Ivan Klyun and Mikhail Larionov dates back to this period. The works of that period reflected his passion for impressionism. Studying with Rerberg allowed him to master various methods and techniques of painting and gain systematic knowledge of its history. He regularly visited the Tretyakov Gallery and attended exhibitions contemporary artists and performances of Moscow theaters.

After the death of her husband, Ludwig Alexandrovna did not lose heart and took upon herself to provide for her family, while at the same time providing the maximum possible support to her son in his quest to become a real artist. Thanks to her efforts, his wife and children were able to move to Moscow from Kursk. But after a couple of years, the marriage collapsed, unable to withstand material difficulties and guest relationships. After all, even after the family moved to Moscow, Kazimir did not immediately leave the commune, not intending to sacrifice his dream. Priority was unconditionally given to painting, in contrast to Klyun, who did not leave his service to provide for a family with three children. Malevich’s work at the beginning of the 20th century is characterized by eclecticism or mixture different styles: departure from realistic manner in favor of impressionism, fauvism, modernism. The end of the first decade was very fruitful for the artist, and Fauvist motifs predominated in his work. Acquaintance with Larionov allowed him to take part in the first exhibition of the Jack of Diamonds association. From 1908 to 1912 it bright works in folklore style, belonging to the so-called peasant cycle, appeared in the exhibitions of the Moscow Salon, the Youth Union, the Munich Blue Horseman, and Donkey's Tail. The "Donkey's Tail" included Larionov, Goncharova, Malevich, Tatlin, Chagall, Fonvizin, who broke away from the "Jack of Diamonds" group. Subsequently, having disagreed with Larionov, Malevich, at the invitation of Matyushin, joined the Youth Union association. During this period, there was a gradual transition to the cubo-futuristic style. In 1913, he took part in the “Target” exhibition with compositions written in a similar manner. The idea for the famous “Black Square” arose in 1913 while working on the sets and costumes for the futuristic opera “Victory over the Sun” by Kruchenykh and Matyushin. The black and white backdrop, against which a chaotic action unfolded with illogical text, symbolized an eclipse, the triumph of new life and the human mind. Malevich's innovative discoveries: the effect of depth achieved by constructing scenery in a cubic-shaped structure, creating three-dimensional space with the help of light. The use of geometric figures in stage design and costumes, dividing them into component parts, anticipated the creation of its own direction in painting - Suprematism. Asymmetrical compositions of multi-colored planes in dynamic space. The results of work in a new direction were presented at the futuristic exhibition “0, 10” in 1915. The selection of 39 paintings also included “Black Square,” located in the upper corner of the room. Where icons are traditionally hung. In 2015, a sensational discovery was made. The painting resembles a nesting doll in which several images are hidden: under the dark-colored quadrangle there are two more compositions - cubo-futurist and proto-suprematist. The inscription “Battle of Negroes in a Dark Cave” was also found there, evoking associations with the black rectangle of Alphonse Allais.

After the revolution, Malevich was called by the new government to work in the field of protection of monuments and cultural values, including in the Kremlin. He served as chairman of the art department in the Moscow City Council, after which two new museums of modern art appeared in Moscow. He taught at the State Free Workshops, collaborated with Meyerhold on the production of “Mystery Bouffe” in Petrograd, and wrote the work “On New Systems in Art.” In 1919 his first personal exhibition took place. In the same year, Malevich moved with his second wife to Vitebsk, where he was mainly engaged in teaching at the art school created by Chagall and writing works on modern art. The UNOVIS society he created in 1920 included Lisitsky, Kogan, Chashnik and others talented artists and architects. In 1922, Malevich and his students and followers returned to Petrograd. In 1925, he presented his new developments regarding the use of Suprematism in building design - architectons and planites.

The artist’s trips abroad began only in 1927. The first country was Poland, where the artist’s Suprematist paintings were treated very favorably. The exhibition in Berlin was a triumph. But instead of five months, he was only able to stay there for one. The authorities' demand for Malevich's immediate return to the USSR forced him to leave Germany. Most He left the paintings for the preservation of the architect Hugo Hering. Many of them can be seen in the Amsterdam City Museum. At home he was arrested as an alleged German spy. The imprisonment did not last long - about a month. But we can confidently assume that the trigger for the terrible illness from which he later died was the stress experienced during his first arrest.

While Malevich's fame grew abroad (new exhibitions in Berlin and Vienna), in native fatherland clouds were gathering around him. For about a year he regularly came to Kyiv to give lectures at the art institute. The exhibition organized there in the spring of 1930 caused a negative reaction in the authorities. A new arrest followed, and only the intervention of high-ranking official Kirill Shutko, his friend, allowed him to soon be released. Created by 1932, a new folklore cycle, “post-suprematist” canvases, with flat torsos is evidence of internal breakdown and growing anxiety. A painting with the eloquent title “Complex Premonition” with a dramatic color scheme, the absence of a face on the character, deprived of the ability to see and speak, anticipates the events of the near future. In the works late period there is an unexpected return to a realistic manner. This is exactly how the portraits of his daughter Una, born in his second marriage, of Klyun, Punin, the artist’s third wife, and ordinary workers were painted.

In 1933, Kazimir Severinovich was diagnosed with cancer, from which he died on May 15, 1935. Malevich bequeathed to bury him in a cross-shaped Suprematist coffin with his arms outstretched to the sides. After the cremation procedure, the ashes were transported to Nemchinovka, a village near Moscow, where the artist loved to relax. On the cubic monument erected over the grave, a black square was depicted. Several decades later, the burial site, lost during World War II, was discovered by pathfinders.

Elena Tanakova

Russian and Soviet avant-garde artist, founder of Suprematism, creator of the famous Suprematist icon - “Black Square”.

early years

Kazimir Malevich was born on February 11 (old style - 23rd) 1879 in Kyiv into a family of immigrants from Poland. On March 1 (13), the child was baptized according to the Catholic rite. The generally accepted date was taken from the parish register of the Kyiv Church of St. Alexandra, however, some researchers insist on the reliability of another date - 1878.

The boy's father, Severin Antonovich, worked as a manager at Nikolai Tereshchenko's local sugar factory. Mother, Ludviga Alexandrovna, nee Galinovskaya, looked after the children. At home they spoke Polish, and subsequently Kazimir considered himself to be Poles, although in some questionnaires he wrote “Ukrainian” in the “nationality” column.

Malevich spent his childhood in Podolia, elementary education received at a five-year agricultural school. The family was forced to move frequently, as the father was constantly transferred from one plant to another.

At the age of 17, Malevich entered the Kyiv drawing school of N. I. Murashko. IN early years He was interested in the work of the Itinerants and wrote a lot from life.

In 1896, the family moved to Kursk. Here Malevich hired himself to work as a draftsman at the Administration of the Kursk-Moscow Railway, but did not give up painting. The ambitious young man even organized an art group in the city.

In 1898, Malevich married his namesake Kazimira Ivanovna Zgleits. The couple got married in Kursk Catholic Church Dormition of the Virgin Mary. In 1904, the artist decided to move to Moscow. Kazimira was strongly opposed, since she was left alone with the children, and in family life there was discord.

On August 5, 1905, Malevich applied for admission to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, but was refused. Not wanting to return home, Malevich settled in an art commune in Lefortovo, located in the spacious house of the artist Kurdyumov.

In the spring of 1906, Malevich had no money left even for a hostel, and he was forced to return to Kursk. In the summer, he re-applied to the school, but was again not accepted.

Moscow

In 1907, the artist’s mother moved to Moscow and ordered her son to move with her family. She rented a five-room apartment and rented a dining room on Tverskaya. Later, the family was forced to move to furnished rooms on Bryusov Lane. The Malevichs quarreled again, and Kazimira, taking the children, left for Meshcherskoye, where she got a job as a paramedic in a psychiatric hospital.

Until 1910, Malevich took lessons academic drawing and painting in the private studio of F.I. Rerberg.

Malevich's debut occurred in 1907, when he took part inXIVexhibition of the Moscow Association of Artists. There he met the famous avant-garde artist, founder of the Jack of Diamonds society, Mikhail Larionov.

In 1909, Malevich divorced and remarried Sofya Mikhailovna Rafalovich. The bride's father owned a mansion in Nemchinovka - here the artist set up a studio for himself. Being self-taught, Malevich, on the one hand, was surprisingly well versed in avant-garde movements, on the other hand, he clearly couldn’t find a place for himself. For several years he rushed from one community to another, sometimes hostile to the previous one.

In 1910, Malevich took part in the group exhibition “Jack of Diamonds”, in February 1911 - in the exhibition of the Moscow Salon, in April-May - in the exhibition of the St. Petersburg Youth Union.

In 1912, the artist exhibited more than twenty paintings in the spirit of neo-primitivism at the scandalous exhibition of the Donkey Tail group, which broke away from the Knave of Diamonds. There he met the futurist and author of his own color theory, Mikhail Matyushin. The artists turned out to be like-minded people; friendship began.

In 1913, Malevich painted “screens” (backdrops) for the “First Evening of Speech Makers in Russia” in Moscow, and also spoke at the “Dispute about modern painting" In Petersburg. The St. Petersburg debate was chaired by Matyushin, Malevich behaved defiantly, shouting phrases like: “You, driving in your little cars, will not keep up with our futuristic car!”

Cooperation with futurists turned out to be the most fruitful. The artist designed a number of futuristic publications and took part in a group exhibition of the Target association. The artist characterized his paintings of that period as “abstruse realism” or “cubo-futuristic realism”,

In December, the premiere of Matyushin’s futuristic opera “Victory over the Sun” with lyrics by Kruchenykh and Khlebnikov took place at the Luna Park Theater in St. Petersburg, for which Malevich created the scenery and costume designs. This moment can be called a turning point for the artist, since, according to him, it was during the preparation for the performance that the idea of ​​“Black Square” was born.

In 1914, Malevich took part in a shocking action organized by Alexei Morgunov on the Kuznetsky Bridge. Artists walked around Moscow with wooden spoons in their buttonholes - in those days, a gesture was enough to excite passers-by.

With the onset of the First World War, Malevich turned to the book: he collaborated with the publishing house “Today's Lubok”, illustrated Kruchenykh and Khlebnikov.

In 1915 he exhibited at the “Tram B” exhibition in Petrograd.

Suprematism and "Supremus"

Kazimir Malevich is credited with creating one of the most influential movements in avant-garde art of the 20th century - Suprematism. Its origin can be dated back to 1915, when the manifesto “From Cubism to Suprematism” was published. New pictorial realism." It was published by Matyushin. In the same year, Malevich presented 39 paintings, which he called “Suprematist painting” as part of the exhibition “0.10”.

On January 1, 1916 (December 19, 1915, old style), one of the key events in the history of art took placeXXcentury - at the next exhibition “0.10” Malevich presented “Black Square” to the public. According to the artist’s plan, the square was to become part of the triptych, but its remaining parts – “Black Circle” and “Black Cross” – were demonstrated later and remained unnoticed.

During the first half of the year, Malevich managed to launch active popularization activities, making Suprematism the most important movement in the avant-garde. He organized the “Supremus” society, which included such painters as Olga Rozanova, Lyubov Popova, Alexandra Ekster, Ivan Klyun, Mstislav Yurkevich and others. He gave a report “Cubism - Futurism - Suprematism” at the “Public Scientific -a popular lecture by Suprematists." He demonstrated 60 new paintings at the next exhibition of the “Jack of Diamonds”, and fraudulently took part in the exhibition “Shop”, organized by Vladimir Tatlin. Tatlin forbade Malevich to exhibit Suprematist works, but he outwitted him by coming to the opening with the number “0.10” painted on his forehead and a homemade poster.

In the summer of the same year, the artist was drafted into the army. He ended up near Smolensk in the 56th reserve infantry regiment and was demobilized in 1917. By the summer, the first issue of the Supremus magazine was almost ready for publication, but on the eve of the revolution the ruble fell sharply, and prices for printing services soared to the impossible. In addition, his comrades abandoned the artist. I had to forget about the magazine.

In August, Malevich was appointed chairman of the art department of the Moscow Council of Soldiers' Deputies. After the revolution, he became Commissioner for the Protection of Ancient Monuments, as well as a member of the Commission for the Protection of Artistic Treasures. This did not come as a surprise to anyone: Malevich had long sympathized with the left and even participated in the barricade battles in 1905. However, in the spring of 1918, the artist bitterly noted in an article for the Anarchy newspaper: “A year has passed, but what have all the theater commissions done for art? art departments? Nothing".

In October 1917, Malevich was also elected chairman of the “Jack of Diamonds,” which caused fury among his eternal rival Tatlin and bewilderment among Popova and Udaltsova. They quarreled, as a result of which Supremus broke up.

Activities after the revolution

At the beginning of 1918, Malevich spoke at the scandalous Futurist debate “Fence Painting and Literature.”

In June 1918, Malevich was appointed Lunacharsky head of the museum section in the Department of Fine Arts of the People's Commissariat for Education (IZO). Malevich began his work by writing a declaration of the artist's rights. Then he began to create a project for a gigantic center for contemporary art: it was supposed to include workshops and homes of artists. His crazy ideas were not allowed to come true, but he continued to move up the career ladder: in the fall he received a teaching position at the State Free Art Workshops (GSAM), which replaced the pre-revolutionary MUZHVZ and Stroganovka. Over the next year, the institution accepted everyone without exams.

In 1919, Malevich exhibited another cycle of works at the exhibition “Objectless Creativity and Suprematism” atXState exhibition. In November, the artist decided to move from the capital to Vitebsk.

Here he joined the teaching staff of the People's Art School of the “new revolutionary model”, headed by Marc Chagall. At the end of the year, Malevich’s essay “On New Systems in Art” was published. In December, the first lifetime retrospective exhibition of the Suprematist, “Kazimir Malevich. His path from impressionism to suprematism."

The artist, meanwhile, took a break and devoted himself entirely to teaching, began to write a lot, and became interested in architecture. In 1920, a circle of devoted supporters from his students formed around him. Those included in it, L. Lisitsky, L. Khidekel, I. Chashnik and N. Kogan, founded the group UNOVIS (Advocates of New Art). When Malevich’s daughter was born, he named her Una in honor of the unification.

In 1922, Malevich completed the main theoretical work of his life - the theoretical and philosophical work “Suprematism. Peace as non-objectivity or eternal peace.” In Vitebsk around the same time, his brochure “God will not be thrown off” was published. Art, church, factory."

In the same year, Malevich and several of his students went to Petrograd. The artist works at the local Museum of Artistic Culture, and at the same time exhibits at the First Russian Art Exhibition in Berlin.

In 1925, the second retrospective was opened in Moscow, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the artist’s creative activity. Malevich reads a report at the State Academy of Artistic Sciences (GANKh), draws sketches of the design of the Petrograd State Porcelain Factory.

In the period from 1924 to 1926, Malevich served as director of the Leningrad State Institute of Artistic Culture (GINKHUK) and headed the formal theoretical department. There I also read the report “Left movements in Russian painting over 15 years.”

Malevich's passion for architecture, once inspired by the quests of El Lissitzky, grew into something more: he created the concept of architectons - picturesque architectural suprematist models. The artist became a member of the Association of Contemporary Architects (OSA) and presented his ideas at the annual reporting exhibition of GINKHUK. On June 10, 1926, after the publication of G. Sery’s article, GINKHUK was closed with a scandal and completely liquidated.

In 1927, Malevich married for the third time, and Natalya Andreevna Manchenko turned out to be his new passion. He lived with her for the rest of his life at 2/9 Soyuz Svyazi Street, apt. 5.

In the spring, the artist went on a long business trip to Poland and then to Germany. He visited the Greater Berlin art exhibition and the Bauhaus in Dessau, where he met Walter Gropius and László Moholy-Nagy.

In 1928, Malevich returned to easel painting. Working in Moscow State Institute art history and at the same time preparing for the next exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery, the artist began restoring his early works from memory. Thus, the paintings of the “Impressionist period”, the “peasant cycle” and the third version of the “Black Square” were recreated. The latter had to be written again at the request of the management, since the original was already in a deplorable state.

Color symbolism

In the words of Malevich himself, “suprematist philosophical color thinking” is put at the forefront by the artist. The Suprematist painter must abandon narrative and the principle of mimesis (imitation, realistic reproduction of the surrounding world) and, discarding old forms, create something new using only color and the simplest geometric elements.

For Malevich, color becomes not just a key tool, but a full-fledged, independent pictorial unit. The relationship between form and color is hierarchical: if color is the power of the first row, then form performs applied functions.

The artist left a huge number of theoretical works in which he provides a rationale for Suprematism and his theory of color. Striving for “pure painting,” Malevich assigned a decisive role to color: “Suprematism in one of its stages has a purely philosophical cognitive movement through color, and in the second - as a form that can be applied, forming a new style Suprematist decoration."

Particular attention should be paid to the color palette of Suprematism. Red, black and white - the archetypal color triad - are designed to perform ontological functions. “The most important thing in Suprematism is two foundations - the energies of black and white, which serve to reveal the form of action.” Three Suprematist squares are Malevich’s ideological guidelines: “black as a sign of economy, red as a signal of revolution and white as pure action.”

Exploring the mechanisms of perception, Malevich comes to the conclusion that the Suprematist canvas should be white, because this color awakens the feeling of infinity. The artist’s most often quoted thesis from the program manifesto “Suprematism” sounds like this: “I conquered the lining of the colored sky, tore it off and put colors into the resulting bag and tied it in a knot. Swim! White free abyss, infinity before you.” The white canvas signifies the transition from emotions to “white as the true real representation of infinity,” the transition to pure Cognition.

As an apologist for non-objective painting, Malevich was extremely concerned about the problem of the relationship between color and form. A short article “Form, Color and Feeling” (1928) was written on this topic. This is another work about Suprematism and new art, subject to the requirement to convey “sensations of forces developing in psychophysiological areas human existence" Suprematism expresses these feelings through simple geometric forms, cleared of semantic layers, grouped into strict compositions. As for the choice of a suitable color for these forms, Malevich argues that it should be arbitrary, depending only on the will of the artist. Taking into account the hypothesis that each shape has its own color, he still encourages making choices intuitively. Numerous experiments conducted by him personally showed that a certain shape evokes associations with the same color in most subjects. But, as Malevich rightly noted, in the context of a painting, colors and forms are perceived not in isolation from each other, but together; they are subordinated to general dynamics, perform one specific task, and realize the artist’s plan. Both color and form follow feelings and sensations; Malevich’s painting is not a means, but the content itself.

Sunset of life

On September 20, 1930, Malevich was arrested: he was charged with Article 58, paragraph 6 – espionage. He remained in custody for almost three months and was released only on December 6. He faced a term of imprisonment of up to three years, and if espionage was recognized as “harmful to the interests of the USSR,” then execution. A small amount of foreign currency, preserved from the time of his business trip, and several letters were confiscated from the artist.

In 1932, Malevich was working on a project for the painting “Social City,” which was never realized. From this moment on, the degradation of the artist becomes obvious. He participates in opportunistic events and paints portraits in the spirit of socialist realism. In 1933, Malevich was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

In 1935, a few months before his death, the last show of the artist’s works in his homeland took place - the next one would take place only in 1962.

Death and significance for world culture

Kazimir Malevich died on May 15, 1935 in Leningrad after a long, painful illness. According to the artist’s will, his body was placed in a “Suprematist coffin” made in the shape of a cross. He was transported to Moscow, cremated at the Donskoy Crematorium, and the urn with his ashes was buried under the artist’s favorite oak tree not far from the village of Nemchinovka. A monument with the image of a black square is erected above the grave.

During the war, the grave was lost and it is not possible to find its exact location. Already during the war, an arable field appeared in its place, so today the memorial sign is located on the edge of the forest, two kilometers from the original burial.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Malevich for world art. Along with Kandinsky, Kupka, Mondrian, he is recognized as one of the founders of abstract art, the founder of non-figurative, non-figurative painting. He influenced subsequent generations of artists of completely different directions; he can be considered one of the forerunners of actionism, minimalism, conceptualism, etc.

The famous “Black Square” was considered lost for some time and was discovered in Samara in 1993. It was purchased by Inkombank for 250000 dollars. In April 2002, the painting was bought and given to the Hermitage by Vladimir Potanin.

On November 3, 2008, “Suprematist Composition” (1916) by Malevich went under the auction hammerSotheby’ sfor a record 60 million dollars.